I've finally finished load development for this fall's hunting season with my .454 Casull T/C Encore for deer here in Iowa. All loads use CCI BR-4 primers and Starline brass, over 30 bullet, powder, and primer combinations were tested, there are the best shooting four, they all shoot under an inch at 50 yds, the 14 gr. Unique with 300 g.r cast and the 320 cast with 27 gr. H110 maintain 1" accuracy at 100 yds.!
My plinker/target/squirrel and bunny load is 10 gr. of Unique and a cast 255 gr. Keith bullet, great accuracy, very little recoil, and doesn't damage a squirrel anymore than a .22 LR HP, I've already collected with it!
My hunting load options are these:
14 gr. Unique, cast 300 gr. Keith, very accurate, moderate recoil
30.5 gr. H110, Hornady 300 gr. XTP-MAG, very accurate, manageable recoil, not as bad as I expected.
27 gr. H110 320 gr. cast LFN GC, most accurate load, also the hardest hitting on both ends, I would feel comfortable elk or moose hunting with this load, I know this isn't a legitimate test, but my backstop at the range is a pile of big logs, this bullet penetrated an ash log 18" in diameter and kept going, I couldn't believe it!
This ends my load development for this season, but I still have some unexplored powders on the bench, like HS-6 and Accurate #9, any suggestions for these two powders would be appreciated. Good luck hunting, I'll let you know what I come up with this fall!
Selmer
